India’s Oldest Rebel Returns Home: Thuingaleng Muivah’s Journey Comes Full Circle
A rare moment of history unfolded last week in Somdal, a quiet village nestled in the green hills of Manipur’s Ukhrul district. As a helicopter descended onto a makeshift helipad, hundreds gathered, singing in anticipation. When the door opened, cheers erupted — India’s oldest living rebel, Thuingaleng Muivah, had finally come home.
Now 91, Muivah is the long-time general secretary of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) — or NSCN (I-M) — once the most powerful Naga insurgent group. For more than half a century, he has been both a revered figure and a controversial one: a symbol of Naga identity for some, and a reminder of decades of conflict for others.
His supporters hail him as the guardian of the Naga aspiration for self-determination — the dream of a “Greater Nagaland” that unites Naga communities across Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Assam. His critics, however, associate the movement with years of violence, targeted killings, and what they describe as a parallel administration built on “taxation” — charges the NSCN (I-M) continues to deny.
Born in Somdal, Muivah left his village in 1964 to join the underground Naga movement. His path took him through the jungles of northern Myanmar, the ideological training grounds of Maoist China, and eventually to the negotiation tables of New Delhi.
